A few people have asked me for a list of resources for studying. For those of you still in Law school, still studying for the bar, or who need to try again, I tried putting together a comprehensive list (sorted Alphabetically and by Series) of the best Study Guides for the bar based on what I used, what my friends recommended, and what other lawyers I’ve spoken with advised. I’ve used all of these, and I think they really helped me with both Law School itself and the bar exam. In fact, If I were taking the exam in again (eg in different state), I’d probably use Sparkcharts and Emanuel all by themselves. You can find the list HERE (or click on one of the images below).

Just found this on Georgia’s Bar Examination website. According to their report, “errors” were made when grading the February 2016 and July 2015 bar examinations. 90 people were told that they had failed, when in fact they actually passed the exam!

OMG!

I cannot imagine how I would feel if I got a copy of their letter in the mail. What do you think would outweigh the others? – Anger? Excitement? Annoyance? Lawsuit-waiting-to-Happen?

Talk about infliction of emotional distress – maybe not intentional, but still. That’s a pretty HUGE error. Gross Negligence if nothing else. Their offering is that they will reimburse those people for any expenses they paid for taking the bar again since then. But what about lost income? Lost time? What about the fees of the screwed-up bar exam?That seems like it’s going a bit under for reimbursement. I fully expect there will be arguments over that, what do y’all think?

Y’all can read the full report here. But this is the letter they are sending out:

“September 6, 2016

The Board of Bar Examiners has determined that you are one of 90 people who passed the Georgia Bar examinations administered in July 2015 or February 2016, despite prior notification that you had failed to pass. As Board members, we take full responsibility for these errors and offer our sincerest apologies to you.

Having taken the Bar examination ourselves, we recognize the distress that this mistake has caused you. As members of the Board, we are charged with upholding the integrity of the Bar examination.

We have conducted a thorough investigation and have confirmed the causes of the errors in the scoring process. Those have been corrected and we are establishing procedures to ensure we will not make the same errors going forward. Credibility is our certification system’s greatest asset and we must restore the public trust.

The Board is prepared to reimburse you for fees associated with any subsequent exams taken as specified in the letter you have received from the Office of Bar Admissions, although we know your investment of time and effort greatly outweighs the additional cost of the examination.

Good luck on the Bar Exam to all of you unlucky bar-takers entering the hell that is this test. No, seriously, it isn’t as bad as everyone says! Let me know if you need some prayers, I’ll send some up for you 🙂

If you don’t know an answer on the essays, just SOUND LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! Say your Bullsh** with emphasis and back it up with strong statements. And at the end, don’t forget to say “Of course, I would never offer legal advice without previously completing thorough research first.” Keep time, drink coffee, get some sleep, and you know all the usual tips. FIGHTING! (Or as my Chinese students say before the Gaokao (dread test of all China) –

Like this:

As always, this lesson is not intended to be professional advice. This is simply lesson material for ESL students in a Managerial Economics and Corporate Finance class. Posted here for their use or for helping other students.

Corporate Value (值)

Financial officers and Managers are extremely responsible for the monetary (货币) goings-on in their companies. As we said before, the Wealth Maximization Rule means that Financial and Corporate Managers are required to maximize (最大化) the profits (收益) for their investors (投资者).

There are two types of Value (值) that you should be aware of in Finance and Economics.

The first is called Present Value (现值) and is the value today of something that will increase in value in the future. Example: When we loan someone $1,000 at 10% interest, we know that our $1,000 loan will increase in value in the future. Present Value = PV.

The second is called Future Value (未来价值) and is the value that the item will have in the future. Future Value = FV.

Interest (利)

I’ll make another post later discussing the many ways to use Present and Future value in your company, but today I just wanted to talk about using them to calculate (计算) “Compound Interest” (复利).

Usually, when we loan money to someone or invest (投资) our money in something, we do so on the condition that we receive back more money than we put in. Our corporation is not a charity (慈善机构), we don’t loan you things for free! The original money we invest is called the Principal (本息). The extra money we get on top is called the Interest (利).

Example ~ Company A (a large global corporation) invests $100,000 in a small new business called Company B. Company B has 10 years to pay it back. But Company A doesn’t do this for free ~ they want to maximize their profits too. That means they have to make some money on this contract (合同). So they ask Company B to pay an additional 7% per year.

$100,000 = Principal7% = Interest

COMPOUND INTEREST (复利)

Problem! ~ 7% of what? Answer! ~ It depends It depends on how Company A decides to count it.

There are two separate mathematical formulas (数学公式) you can use to figure out the Interest.

The second method is called Compound Interest (复利). Compound Interest says that each payment period, Company B is going to pay an additional 7% of the currently owed principal! Lenders and Investors really like compound interest a lot better than simple interest.

For example: I borrow $1000 due in two years. My interest rate is 10%.

If I use Compound Interest: Year 1, I owe $1000 + 10% interest = $1100. Year 2, I owe $1100 + (10% of $1100) = $1210

The formula for Compound Interest is:

I = InterestP = Present ValueR = Interest RateT = Number of Years Involved
N = Number of Times a Year

Example

Company A (a large global corporation) invests $100,000 in a small new business called Company B. Company B has 10 years to pay it back. The interest rate is 7% compounded bi-annually. What is the Total Interest (利) you will pay over 10 Years?

Calculating FUTURE VALUE and PRESENT VALUE using COMPOUND INTEREST

The total interest is of course important to both Company A and Company B, there are two other important numbers that the financial managers of Company A want to know–the Present Value of their money and the Future Value of their money.

Future Value

FV = Future Value (how much money you will make in total)PV = Present ValueR = Interest RateT = Number of years involved
N = Times per Year

Using our example above with Company A & B, the Future Value is calculated like this:

That means Company A will make a total of $286,968.46 if they invest their $100,000 in Company B now. Over 10 years, their $100,000 will change into $386,968.46. We like this plan!

Present Value

Sometimes, for example with bonds (债券), we know the Future Value (how much money will be paid to us in the end). But we don’t know how much money has to be invested (Present Value) to get that future result. So Present Value is calculated by the formula:

PV = Present Value FV = Future ValueR = Interest RateT = Number of years involved
N = Number of Times per Year

Example: Mary Jane knows that in 4 years, she needs to have a total of $150,000 to pay her college tuition. She has an interest-generating account that gives her a 4% compound interest rate bi-annually on everything she puts in. How much money should she invest today (Present Value) in order to have $150,000 in 4 years?

That means that Mary Jane needs to put $101,336.67 in her bank account now in order to get $150,000 in the future.

As always, this lesson is not intended to be professional advice. This is simply lesson material for ESL students in a Managerial Economics and Corporate Finance class. Posted here for their use or for helping other students.

Corporate Value (值)

Financial officers and Managers are extremely responsible for the monetary (货币) goings-on in their companies. As we said before, the Wealth Maximization Rule means that Financial and Corporate Managers are required to maximize (最大化) the profits (收益) for their investors (投资者).

There are two types of Value (值) that you should be aware of in Finance and Economics.

The first is called Present Value (现值) and is the value today of something that will increase in value in the future. Example: When we loan someone $1,000 at 10% interest, we know that our $1,000 loan will increase in value in the future. Present Value = PV.

The second is called Future Value (未来价值) and is the value that the item will have in the future. Future Value = FV.

Interest (利)

I’ll make another post later discussing the many ways to use Present and Future value in your company, but today I just wanted to talk about using them to calculate (计算) “Simple Interest” (单利).

Usually, when we loan money to someone or invest (投资) our money in something, we do so on the condition that we receive back more money than we put in. Our corporation is not a charity (慈善机构), we don’t loan you things for free! The original money we invest is called the Principal (本息). The extra money we get on top is called the Interest (利).

Example ~ Company A (a large global corporation) invests $100,000 in a small new business called Company B. Company B has 10 years to pay it back. But Company A doesn’t do this for free ~ they want to maximize their profits too. That means they have to make some money on this contract (合同). So they ask Company B to pay an additional 7% per year.

$100,000 = Principal7% = Interest

SIMPLE INTEREST (单利)

Problem! ~ 7% of what? Answer! ~ It depends 🙂 It depends on how Company A decides to count it.

There are two separate mathematical formulas (数学公式) you can use to figure out the Interest. The first one is called Simple Interest (单利). Simple Interest says that each payment period Company B is going to pay an additional 7% of the original principal ($100,000). The formula for Simple Interest is:

Example

Company A (a large global corporation) invests $100,000 in a small new business called Company B. Company B has 10 years to pay it back. The interest rate is 7% per year. What is the Total Interest(利) you will pay over 10 Years?

Calculating FUTURE VALUE and PRESENT VALUE using SIMPLE INTEREST

The total interest is of course important to both Company A and Company B, there are two other important numbers that the financial managers of Company A want to know–the Present Value of their money and the Future Value of their money.

Future Value

FV = Future Value (how much money you will make in total)PV = Present ValueR = Interest RateT = Number of years involved

Using our example above with Company A & B, the Future Value is calculated like this:

That means Company A will make a total of $70,000 if they invest their $100,000 in Company B now. Over 10 years, their $100,000 will change into $170,000. 🙂 We like this plan!

Present Value

Sometimes, for example with bonds (债券), we know the Future Value (how much money will be paid to us in the end). But we don’t know how much money has to be invested (Present Value) to get that future result. So Present Value is calculated by the formula:

Example: Mary Jane knows that in 4 years, she needs to have a total of $150,000 to pay her college tuition. She has an interest-generating account that gives her a 4% interest rate on everything she puts in. How much money should she invest today (Present Value) in order to have $150,000 in 4 years?

That means that Mary Jane needs to put $129,310.35 in her bank account now in order to get $150,000 in the future.